Tetra Pak unveils better with carton campaign to promote sustainable food packaging

By Business A.M.

Tetra Pak, a food processing and packaging solutions company, is set to  unveil its ‘Better with Carton’ campaign to promote sustainable carton food packaging.

The multinational company, at a media parley held recently in Lagos, noted that the environmental impacts of packaging with PET bottles were becoming a cause for concern.

It explained that the campaign was in line with its global commitment to ensuring improved food packaging by providing consumers with the highest quality packages, adding that the initiative would create awareness among stakeholders about the worrisome environmental effects of other packaging materials and the need to switch to cartons for food safety and consumers’ health.

Oshiokamele Aruna, managing director of Tetra Pak West Africa, remarked that the  company’s packages were environmentally sound because they were made from renewable materials, recycled to help prevent food waste and promote sustainability.

The managing director stated that Tetra Pak had been championing the continuous need for safe food packaging for many years and has made safety and health some of its guiding principles.He added the company had expanded access to safe food in the entire food and beverage industry to deliver safe, standard and high-quality food packages, using some of the latest technologies to push modern limits of packaging, processing, and service solutions.

“As more and more companies globally continue to explore alternative packaging materials to achieve plastic reduction targets, the carton has won the heart of many and is certified as one of the more sustainable solutions because it is bio-based, recyclable, and reusable. It can be used to make new paper products within a cycle,” he said.

Aruna also disclosed that Tetra Pak has committed to reach net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in its global operations by 2030. He pointed out that on an average, about 70 percent of the company’s carton by weight is paperboard, renewable, plant-based material and made from FSC®-certified forests and other controlled sources.

According to the Tetra Pak MD, renewable plant-based materials are better for the environment because they can be replenished over time and enable a move away from fossil fuel-based materials.  He added that as more companies globally continue to explore alternative packaging materials, it would help to achieve plastic reduction targets.

Aruna  noted that not only does carton packaging come with immense health benefits, but also has the potential to be recycled into other useful products.

Commenting on the company’s proposed campaign, Clement Sunday, marketing director,Tetra Pak West Africa,said the initiative was majorly an opportunity to share the positive experience of companies already using carton in their packaging to other people.

“The idea is to encourage most of our enthusiastic customers to share their voice on the positives of used beverage cartons so that more are aware of the enormous advantages of cartons,” he said.

According to Sunday, the company has been to make evaporated milk accessible to millions of consumers, regardless of their socio-economic class.

He added that Tetra Pak is expanding its global commitment to sustainability to stakeholders in West Africa through an awareness drive and hoped to reach as many as possible in the immense benefits of using cartons in packaging through many activities including sustainability advocacy forums and seminars events which have been lined up for that purpose.